the 21st is a special day

The 21st of every month is a special day for me. That's right, it's payday. When all those hours in front of sarcastic, annoying adolescents pays off in the form of Japanese yen automatically deposited in my bank account. It used to be pretty exciting to see how many digits were in my salary (my income is in the millions), but the charm has worn off I'm afraid. But I can always look back and remember those days...

Anyway, this blog could use an updating. Since this last post I went to Tokyo for a recontracting cconference. The seminars were mostly long and boring (as they always are) but hey someone paid for me to go to Tokyo for 3 days. Not bad.

Then I returned in time for a full week at Elementary School. I orchestrated such classics as head, shoulders, knees, and toes; run for the eraser pictionary; and drawing picasso-esque versions of the human face. It was pretty fun and often adorable. Though I found out the hard way that 3rd graders are too little for pictionary, and some of the slower kids were unable to articulate with chalk even some basic objects like apple and bicycle. I nearly made one kid cry when he drew "capt jack sparrow," which was my bonus challenge card. I got to make up for his almost crying later when I taught the 1st graders (about 6 yrs old) and I made at least 3 kids cry. I'm not exactly sure how I made them cry, but they were upset about something. Didn't stop the rest of them from adorably enjoying whatever silly game they were doing though. yokatta.
So in conclusion: elementary school is busier and more physically tiring than junior high, but it has some nice pluses. I don't necessarily feel like I've really DONE something when I leave (I can't teach an 8 year old English in 40 minutes) but at least I feel loved. I don't know what it is about Japanese children that just exudes love and adoration and friendly happiness, but it is pretty great. But by the end of Elementary their adultification sets in and is established by the end of Junior High (grade 9). Their happy energy, ability to speak up, desire to try new things, and so on seems to just disappear (at least while in front of a group, which is always the case) within a very short period of time.
Fushigi (mysterious) and a little sad.
But after the tiring week me and Ambs set sail on my toyota corolla II, and headed North for an hour or two to eat lunch at this cafe that we had happened upon earlier and found totally ridiculous. It's in the blog if you can be bothered searching for it. Anyway it's German theme is pretty over the top, and must be seen to be believed:

Amber takes her coffee seriously... deadly seriously.

I know this is a bad picture, but I needed to give some example of this guy's art that adorns the walls of this place. He painted many many different images, but they all or mostly all have the common theme of a younger him (maybe) and a smiling German woman (maybe). I wonder if his love still remains outside the reach of his small country town...
And I may spend too much time with 14 yr olds, but this is a great cup.

Moving along, this was a 3 day weekend for me, and a super special one in that a buddy of mine from America happened to be in Tokyo! Katja Holmes finished up her summer study in Sendai and brief travel across Japan and had a few days to spare in the metropolis before heading home. So I went down and did a little bit of showing around my fave spots of Tokyo (Kichijoji, Koenji, golden-gai in shinjuku, shimokitazawa). She has silly pictures herself, but this is the one proof she needs that she was in Japan:
There it is: she was in Japan.

It's bed time, and I have a big day tomorrow (as far as ALTs work goes). I'm teaching with a student teacher (whos 7 years older than me, and my new buddy named suzuki) and will be observed by many other teachers at my school, as well as parents and probably some stuffy people in suits taking notes. I'm of course a bit removed from what's going on, but regardless my coworkers are watching me in action, which is a little bit unnerving.

soredemo, gambarimasu.

See you all soon (just one month!)

all my lovin
(to youuu)

aaron

thank you japanese travel agency

My search for the best tickets to America has ended. After encountering many different hassles and getting sidetracked and confused online, I made a trip to a Japanese travel agency. I didn't really think that would lead to much because of both the language barrier and how overpriced Japanese "deals" seem to be... but in the end me and Amber now have tickets that cost about 200 dollars less than we originally tried to pay (but my card, perhaps for better, didn't work).
Regardless, here it is: I will leave Japan July 19, and will depart America August 18. I am flying into Boston, where Amber will meet her "relos" (that means relatives) and do Australian things with them for about a few days to a week. In the mean time I'll make my way to the New York area where I hope to find as many of my friends as possible. Or maybe just relish that signs are in English.
So soon after I will meet up again with Amber, and we will continue hanging around the northeast. The places i'd like to go include new york, state college, nepa, Philadelphia, lancaster, and DC (or wherever Jacob is). THEN comes time to go to Florida, where my parents will be LIVING(!!). How I'm getting there is yet to be decided, but it may turn out to be a road trip with baby Shmoo. In that case Chapel Hill NC will be a must stop place, as Amber has relatives there and Jacob has stomping grounds there.
Then I will alas push off from these shores yet again in order to make more money and save up for my trip to Australia this winter. In the mean time I am researching my next move in America, including jobs, internships, and school. I will simply make my way back home when its time for that thing to begin, whenever it is.

I'll contain myself in this blog, but rest assured, I'm very excited to come home.

The other big news that should be reported is that I have a car and have been driving these last few days. For proof:
I know what you're thinking, "wow Aaron, that is a phat ride." Or, "mm those dents and rust spots are really nice touches," or maybe just "speed demon!" All of these are accurate.
Amber took these pictures of me the first morning I drove to work in my little toyota.
It is nice to be mobile, but I'm afraid I have to take my new-found freedom with a grain of salt. My international drivers license expires in just over a month, at which point it will become necessary for me to obtain a Japanese Drivers license. I have to take a test (in Japanese) which is notorious among ex-pat Americans as being very difficult. In fact, I tried to buy a car off of an American a few months ago who had to sell it because after attempting 7 times he gave up on the test. Of course Aussies, Brits, and Kiwis are exempt from this and can just have their license translated. Dammit.

I'll keep you updated though.
Tomorrow I'm off to Tokyo for a JET seminar on being a super great awesome english teacher in japan. I'm less than thrilled, but they do pay for me to stay in Tokyo for a few days and maybe its better than work. I'm more looking forward to my return to Tokyo the following Friday when I will go to a concert (Shugo Takumaru) in one of my fave areas of Tokyo. And then meet up with a Japanese teacher from my school elsewhere in the city on Sunday. And then.. well.. .back to the grind. But only for a month or so! Then the great big (and maybe a little dumb) shores of our great big (maybe a little fat) country beckon.

The only other piece of news in my life worth mentioning has been my new occasional post at an elementary school. For a week at a time every month or two I will now be going to Nakagawa Shogakkou, a nearby elementary school (which in Japan means children age 6-12). So for five days I taught every class at this school of 700 or so students. Teaching the very young students is a very different experience than teaching my usual middle school teenagers. But.. they are SO cute. I'm not sure why or how, but little Japanese children are even cuter than little whitey kids (who can be plenty cute as well). They are so happy and excited and energetic and touchy and smiley and happy to do as much as they possibly can with me. Of course they in turn expect a lot from me, and I become the main teacher for the whole period. So it is more work and responsibility than my usual day at middle school... but the kids are so cute! Their questions were maybe the cutest, and included things like "how many cousins do you have?" "is time the same in foreign countries as Japan?" "Is there medicine in America?" and a slew of other cute ones.

There's always too much in my head to really write down at once, and if I did that then there would be no reason for you to keep reading right? So rest assured that the next time I update I'll have something new and exciting for you to read about. Or something anyway.

Stay well and see you soon.

Aaron